ALBUQUERQUE (NM)
The Associated Press
October 2, 2018
By Russell Contreras
A lawyer for a former New Mexico priest who served in Santa Fe and who fled the U.S. decades ago amid allegations of child sex abuse is seeking his release from federal detention.
Defense attorney Samuel Winder filed an appeal late last week asking a federal judge to reverse a decision to detain Arthur Perrault until his trial on sexual abuse charges.
The move came days after a federal magistrate ordered the Perrault, 80, held pending trial after deeming him a flight risk.
Perrault was extradited to New Mexico last month from Morocco in connection with sexual abuse cases that are said to have taken place between 1991 and 1992 at Kirtland Air Force Base and the Santa Fe National Cemetery.
The former Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and a former Air Force chaplain has been charged in a federal indictment with seven counts of aggravated sexual abuse and abusive sexual contact.
In his appeal for Perrault’s released, Winder said a pretrial services report recommended that Perrault be sent to a third-party halfway house under strict condition with GPS monitoring.
Winder said the report also cited Perrault’s health problems, including lingering affects from a 2015 stroke, diabetes and chronic high blood pressure.
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